Chiefs hunt missionary's killer

Committed to work . . . the Gersbach family, left to right, Louise, Anita, Jean and Lance, before his murder on Sunday in the Solomon Islands.

A Solomon Islands MP has asked traditional chiefs to hunt down those responsible for the beheading of a 60-year-old Australian missionary at a remote settlement.

"I am confident they will be caught and handed over to police," said the MP, Alfred Sasako. "This is an appalling crime and everybody is shocked."

Lance Gersbach was murdered at Oto'ifi on the northern coast of the large island of Malaita, where the Seventh Day Adventist Church has operated a hospital since 1962.

Mr Gersbach, who moved to the Solomons in February with his wife and two young daughters to work as the hospital's business manager, was involved in the construction of a new general store.

Mr Sasako said that just after 1pm on Sunday, Mr Gersbach was operating an excavator at the site of the new store and asked an assistant to fetch some tools. When the assistant returned, the missionary was dead, his head severed.");document.write("

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There have been reports that the killing may have been related to the building project, which added to historical tensions over the hospital's use of the local land under a 100-year lease.

Mr Sasako said no definite motive had been established. But a church member said some disgruntled visitors had interfered with hospital operations in the past. And traditionalist men had talked about a taboo that relates to males walking below female staff working on the floor above.

Solomon Islands police superintendent Charles Lenoa said the fact Mr Gersbach was working at the site led to a suspicion there was a link with a land dispute.

"The people from that area are disputing the erecting of new buildings like that, high buildings like that," he said.

Pastor Hennie Murray said the murdered man's wife, Jean, and his daughters, aged 9 and 12, have been flown from Oto'ifi to the capital, Honiara.

"They are now staying here at my house," said Mr Murray, who is from South Africa. "This is very sad. I think the children have not really caught up with it all yet, but Jean is in quite a state."

Mrs Gersbach and her daughters were due to fly to Sydney today on a commercial flight that will also return her husband's body.

Graeme Loftus, the pastor at Charlestown Seventh Day Adventist Church in Newcastle, where Mr Gersbach worshipped, said there had been no hint of racial unrest in his last letter.

"Lance was quite busy, there were a lot of things for him to do, and Jean and the girls were happy," Mr Loftus said.

Maurice Gersbach, 73, Lance's brother, said the family was taking the death hard. "It's hard enough dying under any circumstances, but when it's a tragic thing like this it's pretty hard to take," he said.

A church spokeswoman, Bronwyn Mison, said there were three other Australians at the hospital - Bruce Hands, from Brisbane, Dr Hands's wife, and Wolfgang Kissner, a retired Adventist pastor doing pastoral work at the hospital.

Mr Gersbach, who was raised in Western Australia, studied accountancy at the Avondale Seventh Day Adventist College, in Cooranbong, and lived in Caves Beach, south of Newcastle.

He did lay professional work, including three years at the Sopas Adventist Hospital in Papua New Guinea.

Australians face renewed warnings about travel in the Solomon Islands after the murder.

"Our travel advice is pretty high for the Solomon Islands," a Foreign Affairs spokesman said. "Since January 8 we have been telling Australians to maintain a high level of security awareness and monitor developments which might affect their personal safety."